Spencer: Fracking has come long way in short time

When Ron Terranova started delivering hydrochloric acid to fracking sites in upstate Pennsylvania four years ago it was a pretty scary business.

"The first time I went up there I had no idea what I was getting myself into," said the 63-year-old truck driver from Norwood.

He was making field deliveries to new drilling sites based on directions "that weren't very good."

He found himself on two-lane highways going up into the hills. "Lease roads" back to the site could be anywhere from a few hundred yards to three miles. And all that water dripping out of the water trucks made it especially hairy.

Water is the essential ingredient in fracking. Combined with other chemicals, it is fired into subterranean shale formations to crack the rock and release the natural gas in its crevices.

But water was is no friend to a hazardous materials hauler.

"Driving on water on a dirt road is like driving on ice," Terranova said. "On an incline, going up or down the side of a mountain, I was not crazy about it. Believe me, I was scared to death."

Thanks to his years of experience, Terranova never lost a load or had an accident. But he doesn't doubt that a couple sand or water truck drivers rolled their vehicles a time or two.

Since that time, however, he says, the fracking operations have gotten a whole lot better, which is to say safer for guys like him.

Today, the roads are much better, most of them paved right to the drilling site.

"In the very beginning it was crushed stone and mud. There would be 30 to 40 pieces of heavy machinery and equipment leaking oil."

Now, the state and the companies require entire 5-acre sites to be covered with heavy plastic so that any spills are completely contained.

"Safety," said Terranova, "has gotten 200 percent better" for both the workers and the environment.

And the operations have gotten much more efficient and organized. There were times Terranova would have to spend 36 hours on site because of the drillers not being ready for delivery. Now his usual turnaround time is about two hours.

The new industry, Terranova says, has been a boon to the towns near the fracking sites.

When the gas rush started, it was all experienced oil and gas workers from states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana who worked the fields. Today, homegrown Pennsylvanians have been trained and are getting work.

The hours are long and the work grueling. Turnover is high. But the pay is excellent. These are blue-collar jobs that pay up to $100K a year.

"The locals are making big money if they can hang in there," said Terranova.

His son started working for one of the drillers last January. He lasted six months. And still came home with a pretty big chunk of money. When all you're doing is working and sleeping, there's not much to blow your paycheck on.

Terranova dropped me a line after reading last week's column about Matt Damon's new movie "Promised Land" that paints hydraulic fracturing in a pretty harsh light.

He recommended I drive up and check one out.

"(It's) very interesting to see," he wrote. "The noise level is deafening, hearing protection is must. Nomex coveralls (are) a requirement (as are) all other safety equipment. Huge trailers filled with very fine sand and conveyor belts pumping sand down the well with water and chemicals ... quite an operation."

He isn't the first person to suggest I see this for myself. And as it happens, I've got a trip planned for when the weather gets a little warmer.

For a guy who has dealt with the real risks and dangers associated with this industry, Terranova is pretty contemptuous of those who make up stuff about it just to scare people.

A recent and critically acclaimed documentary "Gasland" purported to show the environmental dangers of fracking and the threat it poses to drinking water. One scene shows a homeowner in Colorado lighting the water from his kitchen sink on fire. The implication is that fracking caused methane to get into the man's well water. It didn't. State investigators found that the man's well digger had drilled into a naturally occurring methane pocket.

Terranova said he personally knows a guy upstate who has never been able to drink his well water because of the naturally occurring methane on his property.

But that hasn't stopped eco-propagandists from trying to scare local property owners and the rest of the nation.

"Fracking is good for everyone," says Terranova, workers, communities and the environment. "The tree huggers forget they have to heat their houses as well."

Terranova, whose name literally means "new land," knows a good thing when he sees it. What he has seen in the last four years is the maturation of an industry that even former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell has recognized as the salvation for the Keystone state.

"The only people pissed off up there (in Pennsylvania's gaslands)," says Terranova, "are the people who don't have a lease."

And, of course, the eco-scammers and the Hollywood useful idiots they get to spread their silly falsehoods and see-through lies.

Gil Spencer's column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Check out his spencerblog every day at delcotimes.com.